Mossy Forest
A post-Thanksgiving walk through fog, rain, and slushy snow on the edge of the Opal Creek Recreation Area in the Cascade Foothills:
Surprised by Light
After a busy day of dealing with car repairs and shopping for Thanksgiving food, I didn’t want to walk the dog in our nearby park. I really didn’t. (…)
Touches of Color
Out West, in the land of conifers, we don’t have the color spectacle that blesses New England this time of year. But our few wild deciduous shrubs and trees do add some lovely accents to our evergreen forests and browning grasslands (…)
Erratica
Last week, I started writing and sharing photos around an idea I’m tentatively calling, Rocks I Have Loved. I’m not sure where that idea is going yet. It might be a series of posts, a photo album, a sequence of poems and/or essays, or nothing. I should clarify that I use the term “rocks” loosely to refer to caves, piles or layers of rocks, canyons, mountains, mountain ranges. This week, I consider one rock I should have loved from a distance….
Douglas Fir: Species of the Week
I’ve spent most of my life among Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga sp.) Although I love other trees and plant communities, Douglas fir forests still speak to me of home. In the Pacific Northwest, they’re ubiquitous from the Cascades to the coast. Douglas fir and other conifers of the region are why I’ve never felt at ease in the deciduous forests of eastern North America (as lovely as they are), where bare branches in winter make me especially homesick….
Western Larch: Species of the Week
It was hard to leave our yurt in northeastern Oregon with Western larch (Larix occidentalis) in full copper-yellow glory. But when the flanks of the mountains there blaze with what looks like a procession of candles, it’s time to get ready for a harsh winter or move to lower elevations….
Quaking Aspen: Species of the Week
This time of year, I’m one of many throughout the West enthralled by – and worried about – one of our most striking fall color trees: Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides ). Utah and Colorado have acres and acres of aspens. In northeast Oregon, we have smaller groves dotting the more prevalent bunchgrass slopes and ponderosa [...]
Underneath Oregon Basalt
Today is Rock Flipping Day when people around the world turn over rocks to see what’s underneath. In our far northeast corner of Oregon, we have lots of basalt piles, so the hardest part was choosing….
Great Horned Owl: Species of the Week
I first heard the strange noises in late June: whistling squawks that sounded like sea gulls five hundred miles off course. The calls began at sundown every evening and continued throughout the night. I couldn’t imagine what besides an owl would make so much noise after dark. But owls hoot. Right? Couldn’t possibly be owls, I thought….
Images From Zumwalt Prairie
Here’s a small taste of Saturday’s hike on Zumwalt Prairie, the largest Nature Conservancy reserve in Oregon and the last remnant of bluebunch wheatgrass/idaho fescue-dominated prairie in North America. Thanks to the Wallowa Land Trust for organizing a great outing and to the local Nature Conservancy office for leading it. Looking east over section of [...]
Waking to the Wallowas
We’re heading out to our property in Flora, Oregon. We stayed the night in Enterprise to avoid navigating our muddy, mile-long driveway in the dark and also to sort out exchanging our tractor for another model that starts better. While my partner works on the tractor issue, I’m taking advantage of views of the Wallowa [...]
Ponderosa Pine: Species of the Week
Growing up in Seattle on the west side of the Cascade Mountains, I always thought of ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa, also sometimes called Western Yellow Pine) as exotic trees. They belonged to what we called “the other side of the mountains.” Whenever we drove over Stevens Pass or Snoqualmie Pass, the first glimpse of ponderosa pines thrilled me. I knew we had left behind the rain and dense undergrowth of douglas fir forests (which I also loved) to more open stands where I could wander miles without a trail…
Magnolias of Hoyt Arboretum
In March, I had a craving for trilliums that took me to Tryon Creek State Park. In April, I wanted to stick my nose into magnolia blossoms, so Django (my standard poodle) and I headed over to Hoyt Arboretum. A brisk uphill walk (or a quick Max ride) from downtown Portland, Hoyt arboretum covers 187 [...]
Trilliums in the City
I craved trilliums yesterday but didn’t have the energy to drive far. And with 92,000 acres of green space in Portland, Oregon, I didn’t have to. I drove ten minutes across town and entered 645 acres of trillium heaven in Tryon Creek State Park. A washed-out footbridge detoured me onto a horse trail, but I [...]
California Condor: Species of the Week
For writers, the birds inside the head can sometimes be as lively as the ones outside the window. I’ve had a twenty-two pound bird with a ten-foot wing span squawking and flapping in my imagination for awhile now…
Pacific Tree Frog: Species of the Week
Right on schedule for the spring equinox, Pseudacris regilla arrived several days ago in my backyard pond here in Portland, Oregon. I haven’t seen him yet, but I hear him every night inviting females to join him in his half wine barrel.
